Review: Brinley Gold Shipwreck Spiced Rum
Brinley Gold Shipwreck Spiced Rum was introduced in 2011. It is one of five flavored rums crafted on St. Kitts by the Brinley family. They also recently added a Coconut Rum Cream to their product line. At 69 square miles St. Kitts is the smallest country in the Western Hemisphere. The Shipwreck name is in honor of a British troop ship than sunk off the St. Kitts coast in 1782. Brinley rum is made with molasses from Caribbean sugar cane. It is column distilled and aged for four years in oak barrels. Natural vanilla, nutmeg, clove, orange, and exotic island spices are infused before bottling at 72 proof. Read more 
Review: Blackheart Premium Spiced Rum
Blackheart Premium Spiced Rum was introduced in 2010. It is made with Caribbean rum, with spice, caramel, and other natural flavors added. It is bottled in Bardstown Kentucky at 93 proof by the Heavan Hills Distillery. The rum is named for the sultry siren of the high seas pictured on the bottles label. Read more
Review: Cruzan 9 Spiced Rum
Cruzan 9 Spiced Rum was introduced September 9, 2010. They start with a rum base made with tropical rain water and high quality molasses shipped from their sugar plantations. An exclusive five column distillation process is used to remove the impurities. Once distilled the rum is aged in charred American oak barrels. Unlike most spiced rums that provide a vague description of the spices used in creating their rum, Cruzan lists on the bottles label the 9 spices used in crafting their rum. Those 9 spices include allspice, vanilla, cinnamon, pepper, ginger, nutmeg, clove, mace, and juniper berry. Read more
Review: Bacardi Oakheart Spiced Rum
Bacardi Oakheart Spiced Rum was introduced September 2011. For years Bacardi and Captain Morgan, the two best selling rum brands, each stayed on their side of the fence. Captain Morgan produced spiced rum, and Bacardi produced non spiced rum. Bacardi fired the first shot across the bow with Oakheart. Captain Morgan has since fired back with their Captain Morgan White rum. Oakheart Spiced rum is made with molassess, purified water, and a single strain of yeast, Le Levadura Bacardi. After fermenting and distilling the rum, it is aged in heavily charred American oak barrels for 1-3 years. Natural flavors and spice including maple, cinnamon, honey and vanilla are added before filtering and bottling at 70 proof. Read more
Review: Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum
Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum may not have been the first spiced rum created, but they were the first to bottle their spiced rum at 92 proof. Several spiced rums launched after Sailor Jerry have followed their 92 proof lead, along with an ingredient list that includes spice, caramel, and natural flavors. It is named for Sailor Norman aka Jerry Collins, possibly the most famous tattoo artist of all time. After joining the Navy in 1930, Jerry ended up opening a tattoo shop in Hawaii where many a sailor left his shop, and the island wearing some of his original art on their skin. The Hawaiian Hula Girl picture on the bottles label is an actual picture of a tattoo he created. Sailor Jerry Spiced rum is made with Virgin Island rum, spice, caramel, and other natural flavors. Read more
Review: Sugar Island Spiced Rum
Sugar Island Spiced Rum was introduced with their Coconut Rum September 2013. It was created by the Trinchero Family Estates, the family behind over 27 brands of wine, including their first, Sutter Home. Sugar Island Spiced Rum is made with Caribbean sugar cane rum sourced from the West Indies and Barbados. Spices, caramel, and natural flavors are blended with the rum in California before bottling at 92 proof. Read more
Review: Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum
Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum was first produced in 1944 by the Seagram Company. It was introduced in 1984 in the US, and is now owned by Diageo. Captain Morgan had been produced in Puerto Rico, but it 2012, production was moved to St. Croix. Captain Morgan is now the number two selling spirit brand in the US, only trailing Diageo stable mate Smirnoff Vodka. It is made with Caribbean sugar cane molasses, and it is distilled in a continuous still and aged for 1 year in oak barrels. A Proprietary blend of Caribbean spice is added before bottling at 70 proof. Read more
Review: Cana Brava Rum
Cana Brava Rum was introduced by the 86 Co. in 2012. It is crafted at the Las Cabres Distillery that was first erected in 1919 as a sugar mill. In the mid 1990’s Don Pancho and Carlos Esquilvel discovered and then reopened the neglected warehouse that came with a copper column still that dates back to 1922. Don Pancho was a Master distiller and Minister of Rum for Cuba for over 35 years before moving to Panama. Cana Brava is named for the wild sugar cane that grows surrounding the distillery. Cana Brava starts with locally grown sugar cane that is chopped and crushed for the cane juice. The juice is boiled to crystalize the sugar leaving behind the molasses. This molasses is diluted and fermented with natural pineapple yeast. The rum is distilled through five continuous stills. The first four stills are copper plated and the last is 100% copper and brass. After cutting the rum to 75 ABV it is aged for 18-24 months in new American oak barrels. It is then removed from the barrels and cut to 49 ABV and then aged in used American Whiskey barrels for 12-24 months. This rum is then blended with older rums for consistency. Finally the rum is triple filtered. A carbon filtration is followed by a Millipore cellulose filtration and then a cold filtration before bottling at 86 proof. Read more
Review: Siesta Key Toasted Coconut Rum
Siesta Key Toasted Coconut Rum was introduced December 2014. It is one of six rums crafted in Sarasota Florida by CEO and Master Distiller Troy Roberts. Troy founded The Drum Circle Distilling Company in 2007. Their rum starts with 100% Florida grown sugar cane and triple filtered water. It is distilled in a true copper pot still and aged in charred American oak barrels. Real shredded coconut, honey, and a proprietary blend of spices are infused with the rum for over seven days. No artificial flavors or sweeteners are added before bottling at 70 proof. Read more
Review: Koloa Kauai Dark Rum
Koloa Kauai Dark Rum was introduced September 2009 and is one of five rums they craft on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai. It is made with crystallized brown sugar from tall cane Hawaiian grown sugar cane that is hand harvested and the sugar cane is crushed in the field. The juice is collected in a tank and brought straight to the distillery. It doesn’t get any fresher. The rum is twice distilled using a 1210 gallon copper pot still with a copper column and condenser. Pure mountain rainwater from Mt. Wai’ ale’ ale and the nearby mountain peaks and rainforests is captured and slowly filtered through volcanic strata before reaching vast underground aquifers, is blended in to reduce to 80 proof. Read more